Indian women’s tennis team beats Oman in Asiad

The Indian women’s tennis team was off to a winning start in the 17th Asian Games as it blanked Oman 3-0 in the first round here on Saturday.

Prarthana Gulabrao Thombare and Ankita Raina notched up contrasting singles victories before the pairing of Natasha Marie Anne Palha and Rishika Sunkara was handed a walkover in the doubles match.

Thombare started the tie for India and dropped just one game to beat Sarah Abdulmajeed Rasheed Balushi 6-0 6-1 in a match which lasted 52 minutes.

However, Ankita had to work hard for her win over Fatma Talib Sulaiman Al Nabhani. She squandered the opening set win before getting her act together to clinch the match 6-4 2-6 6-3 in nearly two hours.

With an unassailable lead in hand, the doubles rubber was not much of consequence for the Indians, who were saved of the toil courtesy the walkover.